By nineinchnailed

Posts 20504

Hi guys,

I'm totally confused about upgrading weapons in Dark Souls. I got the Drake Sword fairly early on, and I've got a lvl 42 Pyromancer. I want to get a new weapon but all the weapons I've collected so far don't have anything like the raw damage output of the Drake. Do I need to upgrade these weapons to make them better than the Drake, or do they 'scale' and somehow get more powerful as my strength grows? I've been told that the Drake sword doesn't scale, so presumably others do?

Lots of websites also refer Weapon requirements and modifiers. How do these work? For example, on this website: http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/weapons they list the requirements/modifiers for the dagger as 5/8/0/0 E/B/-/-. What on earth does that mean?

Beta Tester

Thanks for the reply. I think I follow that, but I'm confused about how they actually scale. Is there any way of knowing or finding out what your damage output should be with a scaling weapon? Ideally it would be good to be able to compare any of my current weapons with the Drake sword to see whether it's worth swapping.

Should I be upgrading normal weapons or should I save the mats for cool stuff like iaito etc? Finally (sorry for so many Qs), can the Drake sword be upgraded at all?

When you look at the weapon stats, it shows a list of all the types of damage it does in the ATK section (e.g. physical, magic, fire etc). In that list is two columns - the left most shows the weapon's basic damage, then next to that is shown additional damage based on your stats. If it's negative, it is because you don't meet the stat requirements for that weapon. Generally it will be positive. This is the bit that increases as you level up the necessary stat.

Damage reduction is how much in-coming damage is reduced by blocking with that weapon. Critical is a modifier for backstabs, ripostes etc, but is generally 100. I think daggers and rapiers and stuff have higher criticals.

When you go to equip a weapon, if you press square, you get a screen like above, with numbers in blue being better than your current equipment, and red being worse. And if you press triangle it changes the values shown on the right, so you can compare across other stats like equip weight.

Every 5 levels of upgrade, the weapon needs to be "ascended" at the appropriate blacksmith. It then needs a rarer ore to take it through the next 5 levels. At +10 you can choose to deviate into an elemental path if you have given the appropriate ember to the appropriate blacksmith.

You won't find many base level weapons that are better than the Drake Sword. Especially as early as you can get that sword. But as you level up weapons, and yourself, you will see a better damage output from other weapons. The key is to pick a weapon you like and level the main stat for that weapon (raw damage = str, bow damage=dex, magic/enchanted = int, divine = faith).

I'm sure some of that is not entirely accurate, or doesn't hold true in all cases, but it should give you a good basic foundation for working out what's good, and where to focus.

Problem Solved

I'm totally confused about upgrading weapons in Dark Souls. I got the Drake Sword fairly early on, and I've got a lvl 42 Pyromancer. I want to get a new weapon but all the weapons I've collected so far don't have anything like the raw damage output of the Drake. Do I need to upgrade these weapons to make them better than the Drake, or do they 'scale' and somehow get more powerful as my strength grows? I've been told that the Drake sword doesn't scale, so presumably others do?

Lots of websites also refer Weapon requirements and modifiers. How do these work? For example, on this website: http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/weapons they list the requirements/modifiers for the dagger as 5/8/0/0 E/B/-/-. What on earth does that mean?

Accepted Solution

Problem Solved

Thanks for the reply. I think I follow that, but I'm confused about how they actually scale. Is there any way of knowing or finding out what your damage output should be with a scaling weapon? Ideally it would be good to be able to compare any of my current weapons with the Drake sword to see whether it's worth swapping.

Should I be upgrading normal weapons or should I save the mats for cool stuff like iaito etc? Finally (sorry for so many Qs), can the Drake sword be upgraded at all?

Problem Solved

Thanks for the reply. I think I follow that, but I'm confused about how they actually scale. Is there any way of knowing or finding out what your damage output should be with a scaling weapon? Ideally it would be good to be able to compare any of my current weapons with the Drake sword to see whether it's worth swapping.

Should I be upgrading normal weapons or should I save the mats for cool stuff like iaito etc? Finally (sorry for so many Qs), can the Drake sword be upgraded at all?

The drake sword can be upgraded but only with dragon scales which are quite rare, it will upgrade to +5 and then thats it so its top damage is around 300, which is less than most other weapons.

Your best bet is to upgrade weapons that you like the look of or have A or B stat scaling.

When you are changing weapons in your inventory press the square button and it changes the info view, on this page it will tell you how much damage a weapon does, to the right of this number is a "+100" or other number, that is how much extra damage you get from your scaling stat.

You can also completely ignore scaling stats, as a weapon enchanted with fire or lightning do as much damage as an A rated stat scaling weapon.

This all becomes much more apparent the further you are in the game though.

I have a couple of good stat scaling weapons but I also have a Iaito Lightning +5. To create the Iaito i upgraded it to +5 at the blacksmith in undead parish, then modified it to +6 at the same guy, upgraded it again at the same guy to +10. Once at +10 I took it to the blacksmith in anor londo who can do lightning weapons, he then upgrades it to lightning, when you do this the scaling changes to -/-/-/- so it wont scale with a stat but you get extra lightning damage.

Currently my Iaito does something like 248 dmg and 248 lightning damage, so a total of around 500.

Beta Tester

Thanks for the reply. I think I follow that, but I'm confused about how they actually scale. Is there any way of knowing or finding out what your damage output should be with a scaling weapon? Ideally it would be good to be able to compare any of my current weapons with the Drake sword to see whether it's worth swapping.

Should I be upgrading normal weapons or should I save the mats for cool stuff like iaito etc? Finally (sorry for so many Qs), can the Drake sword be upgraded at all?

When you look at the weapon stats, it shows a list of all the types of damage it does in the ATK section (e.g. physical, magic, fire etc). In that list is two columns - the left most shows the weapon's basic damage, then next to that is shown additional damage based on your stats. If it's negative, it is because you don't meet the stat requirements for that weapon. Generally it will be positive. This is the bit that increases as you level up the necessary stat.

Damage reduction is how much in-coming damage is reduced by blocking with that weapon. Critical is a modifier for backstabs, ripostes etc, but is generally 100. I think daggers and rapiers and stuff have higher criticals.

When you go to equip a weapon, if you press square, you get a screen like above, with numbers in blue being better than your current equipment, and red being worse. And if you press triangle it changes the values shown on the right, so you can compare across other stats like equip weight.

Every 5 levels of upgrade, the weapon needs to be "ascended" at the appropriate blacksmith. It then needs a rarer ore to take it through the next 5 levels. At +10 you can choose to deviate into an elemental path if you have given the appropriate ember to the appropriate blacksmith.

You won't find many base level weapons that are better than the Drake Sword. Especially as early as you can get that sword. But as you level up weapons, and yourself, you will see a better damage output from other weapons. The key is to pick a weapon you like and level the main stat for that weapon (raw damage = str, bow damage=dex, magic/enchanted = int, divine = faith).

I'm sure some of that is not entirely accurate, or doesn't hold true in all cases, but it should give you a good basic foundation for working out what's good, and where to focus.

Accepted Solution

Problem Solved

Hey mate, that's fantastic. Thanks for the info, that's pretty much answered all my questions - for now, at least!

I kinda regret not putting so many levels into Dexterity now though - I started doing this then I read somewhere that Dexterity had been nerfed from Demon's Souls so I stopped bothering, and now I can't wield most of my favourite weapons! Oh well, I'm only level 43 so there's plenty of time to level yet :)

I kinda regret not putting so many levels into Dexterity now though - I started doing this then I read somewhere that Dexterity had been nerfed from Demon's Souls so I stopped bothering, and now I can't wield most of my favourite weapons! Oh well, I'm only level 43 so there's plenty of time to level yet :)

Thanks again for all the advice.

I am in the same boat, I wish I hadnt levelled strength as much, its not NEEDED like i thought, although it does let me walk around with cool weapons at least.

Accepted Solution

Problem Solved

Yeah I learned that from Demon's Souls. I can't remember what it was called, but there was an enormous sword that was taller than a person and it was AMAZING - but if you got caught in a tight spot you were toast! I really liked the scimitars and other curved blades, so that's what I want to start using in Dark Souls. I better get grinding I think!

Accepted Solution

Problem Solved

nineinchnailed wrote:Yeah I learned that from Demon's Souls. I can't remember what it was called, but there was an enormous sword that was taller than a person and it was AMAZING - but if you got caught in a tight spot you were toast! I really liked the scimitars and other curved blades, so that's what I want to start using in Dark Souls. I better get grinding I think!

How far through are you? Have you finished it yet?

I am on my second playthrough and have killed tutorial boss, taurus, gargoyles and butterfly.

I have the Iaito(katana like sword) upgraded to lightning +5 and it is really good, its light and it does a lot of damage now, the animations of it are my favourite.

Armor wise I have just ended up using whatever looks good because I dont think the stat differences in them make very much difference in general gameplay, other than poison resist stuff for running through a swamp etc.

Accepted Solution

Problem Solved

I want to start ascending some of my weapons. I have the lordvessel, but don't think i'm really dealing enough damage to take on the tougher enemies i'm about to imminently encounter (i'm level 55). I did want to go for some fire ascension, but Ceasless Discharge is having his way with me, so doesn't look like i'm getting to Lost Izalith to get either of the flame embers anytime soon.

I have a divine halberd +2 which i've been using as my primary weapon, which I used to get me through the catacombs, but to be honest it deals very little damage (does its divine status add to damage or does it just mean that it can kill enemies like the regenrating skeletons?). I'm not sure whether to farm some more green titanite to get it upgraded, or downgrade it to a standard +5, get another +5 then take it to the giant in anor londo to get some lightening ascension? I get the shards for lightening from Sen's castle vendor right?

I'm also using the gargoyle tail axe, which is currently standard +10, am I better off adding lightening to it, or using the iron golem soul to ascend it?

Problem Solved

A tip for ceasless is to run up to him, collect the armour, he will hit you.

Run back towards the fog, he follows u and nearly falls off the edge to the pit, he grabs the edge with his hand, smack his hand and he falls into the pit = win.

This definitely works, I did it myself by accident! I stole the armour and ran away like a big coward, only to be confronted by the fog gate. I then panicked and attacked the nearest thing I could see (his hand) and then he fell in and died. I didn't even realise he was a boss until this point!

Problem Solved

Beta Tester

That can work, but is unreliable... Most often I found he just sits back and spams his fire attack.

What is reliable is to grab the armour so that he is aggro'ed as soon as you enter the fog. Sprint along the path and at the top of the stairs is a split in the path. Head right. Wait until he is next to the entrance nearest the fog gate and you can run away and round the corner. Keep going back and he will tentacle slam you. Run around the corner to avoid him, then run back and get in two or three hits. Rinse, repeat for a win with minimal damage to you. You will probably get hit once with fire on the way from the fog gate, but that should be it (make sure you stop to block it).

Problem Solved

Beta Tester

At +5 and +10 you need to ascend the weapon through modify, then you can reinforce again. Only certain blacksmiths can ascend certain weapons. For non-elemental and divine, it's the guy near Sen's Fortress I think (and maybe occult?). For magic/enchanted, it's the guy in prison near the ruins. For fire/chaos, it's the skeletal guy in Catacombs. And to make boss soul weapons and lightning it's the giant in Anor Londo.